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Jun 29, 2009

I'm Still Alive (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)

The surprise party was a success. Julie had no clue it was coming and I think she had a really great time. (At the very least, the kids had an unbelievable time.) She was pretty exhausted by the end of the day but she appreciated all the festivities. Plus, she got a facial and cute haircut out of the deal. (Her mom noted that if her husband had done something like this for her, she would have killed him. Exactly the response I was worried about.)

Maybe the best part of the whole day was the fact that the kids got to play outside all day. This, of course, means they were exhausted and ready for early bedtimes. With the house full of sleeping babies Julie and I actually got to enjoy a movie (and finish off the chips and salsa from the party). As if Julie wasn't impressed enough by the day's events, I put the icing on the cake by renting He's Just Not That Into You. Usually my Netflix deliveries are reserved for Jason Statham movies, but this was Julie's day after all. Next in the queue: Gran Torino. Don't let me down, Clint.

Side note movie review:I'm really not anti-chick flick, but I just wasn't that into this movie. (Ha! See what I did there!) Anyway. It was your typical relationship movie. The kind that has to be remade every four or five years to update the context. The problem with this one was that at no point did I emotionally connect enough with any of the characters to actually give a flying procreational act how their relationships failed or succeeded. Maybe there were too many characters. Maybe the acting was too mediocre. Either way, I wanted to just skip to the end to see what cheesy cliches they would use to wrap it up. It was predictable as ever, but I guess there's a pattern you are required to follow in these movies. On the plus side, Ben Affleck was only 1/3 as annoying as usual. By the way, Scarlett Johansson is yet another "hot" actress that does not register in my book. She wouldn't make it out of round one in my brackets.

OK, back to the business at hand. Here are a few pictures from the party. The kids pretty much spent the entire day in the water or in the sandbox. Or both at the same time. The kids weren't the only ones to be exhausted at the end of the day -- be sure to check out the video.

We've gone through a couple of lame sprinkler attachments the last couple of years. The blow up fire truck has been a hit, though.

"Fer crying out loud, I can't believe the wait is this long for shuffleboard."

No time to eat when there's a running garden hose.

Margarita break!

Jameson was so tired he actually fell asleep in the shower. No joke.

Now this video is the pièce de résistance. This was taken shortly after dinner and though it may resemble Shady Acres Retirement Home, it was shot in my living room. The instrumental section of "When the Levee Breaks" was playing in the background and for some reason seems to fit this so well. The stars of this video are my father, Jim, my great uncle, Ron, and my uncle, Mike. As my family will recognize, this scene could have been plucked from just about any family function of the last couple of decades.